■ China investment to decrease
Taiwan will slow down investment in China, cutting that country's share of overseas investment from the current 70 percent by looking to the rest of Asia and the Middle East, Vice Premier Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday. "Our China policy will slow down the speed of investments in China," Tsai told foreign journalists at a briefing in Taipei. Taiwan's investment in China totaled US$6 billion last year, accounting for some 71 percent of total overseas investment. "An investment ratio of 70 percent in China is much too high for any country," Tsai said, adding that the nation would diversify investments to Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Middle East. China is Taiwan's biggest trade partner and investment destination and its businesses and individuals have about US$100 billion invested there.
■ Minor growth recorded
The nation's economy showed signs of slow growth last month, with the index of leading indicators up 0.1 percent from January, while the January index fell a revised 0.4 percent month-on-month, the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday.
The preliminary reading of the January index of leading indicators, used to predict the direction of the economy's movement in the coming three months, was a 0.1 percent month-on-month increase.
The February index of coincident indicators, which measures the pace of economic activity, fell 0.5 percent month-on-month, compared with a revised unchanged reading for January, it said.
The preliminary reading of the January index of coincident indicators was a 0.9 percent month-on-month increase.
The total score of monitoring indicators for last month stood at 28 points, against a revised 28 points in the preceding month, signaling a "green light" for steady growth, the council said.
The "green light" for last month is the seventh in a row since August.
■ Fuhwa looks again to merger
Fuhwa Financial Holdings Co (復華金控), one of the nation's smaller financial holding companies, plans to revive a proposal to combine with the securities business arm of Yuanta Group (元大集團) by June to gain access to as much as NT$27 billion (US$827 million) in capital.
Fuhwa is asking the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), its second-biggest shareholder, to reconsider the merger with the nation's largest brokerage to help improve the Taipei-based lender's asset quality and strengthen its ability to make acquisitions, chairman Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章) said.
"The merger with Yuanta is certainly a must as Fuhwa still has a shortage of capital,'' Yen said in an interview in Taipei last week.
Yuanta took over Fuhwa's management in June last year after acquiring a more than 30 percent stake in the company. The KMT owns 22 percent.
■ Abu Dhabi on the itinerary
China Airlines (華航), the nation's largest carrier, said yesterday it will stop over in Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates on the Taipei-Vienna route three times a week starting April 25.
"The stopovers in Abu Dhabi are responding to demand amid an increase of tourists to the Middle East," a company official said.
China Airlines once stopped over at Abu Dhabi on the Taipei-Rome route between 1995 and 2004 but had canceled the service due to business considerations, the official said.
■ NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.099 to close at NT$32.570. A total of US$708 million changed hands during the day's trading.
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